See, the whole problem with motorcycles is that the speedometers on them go to over 200 m.p.h. (on the racing styled bikes, probably not on your average Harley). When you are riding one of them, and you are 17, you really want to know if it is actually capable of reaching that speed. If they just made them so the speedometer only went to 65, there would be far fewer fatalities.

Having been on one of those bikes at around that age, and lacking anything approaching common sense, I did push it to the limit. It is absolutely foolish to believe that you have any control of the machine whatsoever once it passes about 150m.p.h. Even using the brakes at that speed could be fatal. Going that fast once proves that you are lucky (provided you live); doing it twice proves that you are stupid; doing it three times proves Darwin's theory (possibly not on exactly the third try, but it will happen eventually).

Arizona still doesn't have a law that requires riders to wear a helmet. Because of that, there really are no fender-benders. Very few riders down here actually do wear them, so when there is a crash of any sort it is generally fatal.

Motorcycles are really economical though. The one that I used to ride on a daily basis got about 60mpg. If you have the good sense to stay off of the freeway, and keep it to 55, you can save yourself a lot of money on your commute. If you are comfortable with riding in a car with no doors, body, windshield, seatbelts, and only two wheels, that is.